You can often find them on ebay for 5-10% off or more. Just make sure the seller has a decent amount of positive feedback. I've sold some gift cards on there that I had received as gifts but were for stores I had no interest in. I recall a $200 card of mine ended up selling for around $180 in one instance.

Well, I buy restaurant gift cards at Kroger because when you purchase them you can get a discount on gasoline purchases... They now offer 4x points for gasoline discounts. (i.e. $100 gift card gives you a $0.40 off each gallon of gas on your next fill up. $400 worth will give me $1.60 off per gallon.) I also use a credit card to purchase them which gives a rebate of 5%.
I often buy up to $400 restaurant cards when they have that 4x promotion.

Last edited by Sheepdog on Sat Feb 09, 2013 12:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's not what you gather, but what you scatter which tells what kind of life you have lived---Helen Walton

I have noticed the same thing regarding gift cards. Must be part of their marketing program. If you purchase one it pretty-much guarantees them that they will get a future sale when it is used.

What I seem to see more of with eating establishments is the 2 for one deals and the Groupon-type deals (pay $10 for $20 of future food). If it's a place that you frequent, any kind of price reduction is probably a good deal for you but they are aiming at future customers that are not current customers and their repeat biz.

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momar wrote:Our Costco sells gift cards for local restaurants; the deal is typically 2 $50 gift cards for $80. So after tax it comes out to around 12% off.

They have similar deals for movie tickets, gyms, amusement parks etc.

Are you sure you are paying sales tax on the gift card, or just the other non-food and non-prepared food (restaurant) items? If you are paying tax on the card, when the card is used for a restaurant/non-food item, sales tax will also be subtracted from the card, causing double taxation.

For example, suppose you want to buy a non-food item that costs $100 in a 5% sales tax state. Without the gift card, it would cost $105.

With the gift card that you describe from Costco, it would cost you $80 for the cards, $4 for the tax on the cards, and $5 more in tax when the cards are redeemed (since there wasn't any credit left on the cards. That makes the purchase cost $89, instead of $105. Is this how you see it?

A dollar in Roth is worth more than a dollar in a taxable account. A dollar in taxable is worth more than a dollar in a tax-deferred account.

momar wrote:Our Costco sells gift cards for local restaurants; the deal is typically 2 $50 gift cards for $80. So after tax it comes out to around 12% off.

They have similar deals for movie tickets, gyms, amusement parks etc.

Are you sure you are paying sales tax on the gift card, or just the other non-food and non-prepared food (restaurant) items? If you are paying tax on the card, when the card is used for a restaurant/non-food item, sales tax will also be subtracted from the card, causing double taxation.

For example, suppose you want to buy a non-food item that costs $100 in a 5% sales tax state. Without the gift card, it would cost $105.

With the gift card that you describe from Costco, it would cost you $80 for the cards, $4 for the tax on the cards, and $5 more in tax when the cards are redeemed (since there wasn't any credit left on the cards. That makes the purchase cost $89, instead of $105. Is this how you see it?

No tax is incurred on the purchase of a gift card. Tax is applied when using the gift card just as if you had bought it with cash.

rayout wrote:No tax is incurred on the purchase of a gift card. Tax is applied when using the gift card just as if you had bought it with cash.

+1 (in my state)

+2

Not as good a deal as at Kroger at our local grocery story with gas, but that's where we get most of them. A few that aren't sold there are at BJs, at 2% off. Both places accept AMEX so we get 2% back the purchase price as well.

The holiday gift card deals are pretty good. This year I did three of them. One for a local sub shop and Carrabba's, $20 bonus with $100 gift card purchase. Sub shop even through in their refillable discount cup for the first 10 that took advantage of the offer, I was the first. Coupled with highly discounted (90%) restaurant.com coupons the sub shop deal feels like stealing. Also did the Ruby Tuesday deal $15 bonus for every $50, bought $100. Using these with the biweekly Ruby Tuesday coupons it has also been an awesome deal. Outside of this I have the CITI Forward Visa that does 4% cash back on dining, theaters and anything on Amazon.com. When it comes to gift cards you have to be prepared to manage them or lose when you forget about them or they expire.

Restaurant.com gift cards are good when you can get them at 75-90% off and the terms are agreeable. I use one about once a month to eat lunch with my mother, $25 off $35 that I paid $2 for.

If you have good deals at your grocery use the Amex Blue Cash card, either 6% with annual fee or 3% without.

If you use a Target Red Card (credit or debit), it will take 5% off of most gift cards (but not Amex, Visa, Target). If you also fill prescriptions at Target, they will mail you another 5% discount card after filling 5 prescriptions, which can be combined with the Red Card discount for a 9.75% discount. Most eligible cards are on a rack at the back of the store in electronics.

I see them at COSTCO. My wife and I go to McCormicj & Schmick, perhaps once a year. It seems like a good deal that would save actual dollars. I think that what is not used carries over. So, if I buy 2 $50 cards for, say, $80 and the bill is $60, then I would still have $40 left, right?

The Lettuce Entertain You restaurants (mostly but not entirely in Chicago), http://leye.com/restaurants, had a holiday deal giving you a free $25.00 gift card (can't use on Saturday evenings) for every $100,00 gift card you bought. On the Costco cards, some of the $100.00 for $80.00 restaurants also have discounts on restaurants.com that you can buy and then combine. Francesca's, http://www.miafrancesca.com/static.asp?path=3092, in Madison (but also in Chicago and other places), is an example where we have done this in the past.

rayout wrote:No tax is incurred on the purchase of a gift card. Tax is applied when using the gift card just as if you had bought it with cash.

+1 (in my state)

+2

Not as good a deal as at Kroger at our local grocery story with gas, but that's where we get most of them. A few that aren't sold there are at BJs, at 2% off. Both places accept AMEX so we get 2% back the purchase price as well.

Thank you for pointing this out. I just assumed!

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crowd79 wrote:I never eat out, too expensive and who knows what weird things could be going on in that kitchen & then it ends up on my plate. I cook my own food and I know how it'll taste and what's in it.

And why is this relevant to the OP's question?

OP- there are a bunch of discount card websites out there. But if you're looking for the cheapest prices, I'd go with reputable sellers on eBay.